Harry Potter Casts Burning Hands
by Matthias von Schwarzwald
Summary: Harry is an intuitive wandless pyromancer. The Dursleys aren't happy, the Grangers don't mind, and Dumbledore is rather confused (but he hides it well). Oh, and Harry and Hermione grow up playing D&D. Rated M primarily for the inevitable magical violence.
1. Prologue 1: The Big Bang

Disclaimer: This is J. K. Rowling's setting, her characters (for the most part), and my plot (for the most part).

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_**Prologue 1: The Big Bang**_

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_"Avada Kedavra!"_ A bolt of green light flew from Lord Voldemort's wand to hit baby Harry Potter. A split second later, a massive, fiery explosion rocked the sleepy little town of Godric's Hollow.

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Grand Sorcerer Albus Brian Percival Wulfric Dumbledore, Headmaster of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, was just about to sink into bed when he realized that he knew where the Potters lived. This was not a good sign. He drew his wand, Apparated there, Apparated to a grassy hill just outside town, and extinguished his beard and robes. Godric's Hollow was on fire. This was an even worse sign.

Dumbledore cast Anti-Glare and Tunnel Vision Charms, then looked to see what had become of the Potter house. It was gone, but in the center of the crater where it once was lay a black-haired baby boy. Somehow, miraculously, Harry Potter had survived. Dumbledore dismissed the Tunnel Vision Charm, Apparated in, grabbed the boy, and Apparated back out, his mind not yet recovered enough to make what might be the best decisions.

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Author's note: Yes, I just started a Harry Potter fic with the incantation for the Killing Curse.


	2. Prologue 2: Burnin' Down the House

Disclaimer: This is J. K. Rowling's setting, and it's quite nice of her to let us muck about in it.

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_**Prologue 2: Burnin' Down the House**_

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Harry was five years old. He'd just started going to school, which made the Dursleys quite happy. The Dursleys were currently, however, quite _un_happy: a teacher's hair had spontaneously combusted and the Dursleys blamed Harry for it.

Harry had no idea _how_ he could've made someone's hair spontaneously combust, but Uncle Vernon was punishing him for it anyway. Yelling at him. Threatening him. Calling him a freak, a liar, and various other names. Hitting him? That was new and unusually unpleasant.

Harry yelped and ran for his cupboard. Uncle Vernon dragged him back out and hit him again. Harry yelped again, put on a desperate burst of speed, and barricaded himself in his cupboard. Uncle Vernon broke down the cupboard door, spraying Harry with splinters, and took off his belt.

By this time, Harry had learned to mostly block out the things his Aunt and Uncle—especially his Uncle—said when they were angry, but physical violence coupled with increasingly severe impending physical violence was enough to force him to pay attention. Apparently, he'd been slapped in the face, punched in the gut, and choked a bit with his own shirt. He spit out a few spare teeth and got blood all over the floor, prompting Aunt Petunia to fly into a rage.

Uncle Vernon shoved him to the floor and hit him with the belt. He screamed, all his muscles tensed up, and the wood under his fingers started smoldering. His Aunt and Uncle were—separately, mind you—ranting about everything they thought was wrong with him.

Uncle Vernon hit him with the belt again. He screamed and tensed up again. There was rather a lot of smoke coming from the floor.

Uncle Vernon hit him again, harder this time, but Harry's mind was too full of fire to pay much attention. Another strike, and the only thing Harry could focus on was something Uncle Vernon had said about him being normal or else.

Something dark and wrathful stirred to life inside Harry. If these people who were set on making themselves his enemies prized normality so much, he would take it away from them.

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Lily Potter's blood wards shattered. Albus Dumbledore drew his wand; Apparated to the dining room of Number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey; Apparated to the street outside; and extinguished his beard and robes. He hoped this wasn't going to become a habit.

Had rogue Death Eaters found Harry Potter? If so, where were they? _"Homenum Revelio! Aqua Eructo!" _There were four humans in the house, two of them were dying, and the fire refused to go out. Dumbledore cast an Anti-Glare Charm (again), overpowered a Flame-Freezing Charm, and Apparated back in. A five-year-old version of James Potter lay unconscious on the blackened ground where there really ought to be a floor.

Dumbledore, once more in a panic, grabbed Harry and Apparated to Hogwarts. What would he do with him this time?

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Author's note: Harry hit Number 4 Privet Drive with some sort of Ever-Burning Fire curse. Dumbledore'll send Professor Vector to figure out how to extinguish it once he gets his act together. The Dursleys will probably be dead by then.


	3. Prologue 3: A New Home

Disclaimer: A few decades ago, in this very galaxy, J. K. Rowling had an idea that would go on to make her rich and famous and the world a slightly better place.

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**_Prologue 3: A New Home_**

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Albus Dumbledore, the most powerful wizard in the British Isles, was worried and wasn't used to being confused, and he hadn't been worried—not truly worried, not like this—for four years. Only his Occlumency training was keeping him from having flashbacks. He can perhaps therefore be forgiven for not thinking as clearly as he ought.

Harry's home had been burned down by powerful magic—magic Dumbledore didn't know how to counter. The blood wards were gone, damaged beyond repair. Harry was therefore in danger. Dumbledore didn't know who Harry's attackers were (though he suspected Death Eaters), how they had found Harry, how they had bypassed his wards, or why they had left before killing Harry (though he suspected he had something to do with it).

Dumbledore concluded that to protect Harry, he would have to remove all trace of Harry Potter. He picked a random Muggleborn future student, Apparated to her house with Harry, and used various memory-manipulation spells to convince all four of them that Harry was born into their family. He then examined the parents' minds and repeated the procedure on their close friends and family. Finally, Dumbledore got the Head of the Department of Muggle Relations to alter Harry's birth certificate and cover it up, then removed his memories of doing so and stored them in his Pensieve. (Dumbledore left his own mind intact, trusting his Occlumency to protect him.)

That is how Harry came to live with the Grangers.

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Author's note: This should be the last prologue. I'm probably going to slow down now, too.

Disclaimer: I promise, I decided to have this Harry grow up with the Grangers _before_ I read White Squirrel's _The Accidental Animagus. _


	4. Chapter 1: Well, that Didn't Take Long

Disclaimer: Yup, still J. K. Rowling's setting.

Author's note: Well, that took longer than I expected. Sorry.

I was trying to fit Harry's entire post-Dursley, pre-Hogwarts childhood into a single chapter. Yeah, not gonna happen.

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_**Chapter 1: Well, that Didn't Take Long**_

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Dan Granger had two children, twins—a son, Harry, and a daughter, Hermione. He knew that. They'd always been his children. But had they always been his children yesterday? He had plenty of memories of Hermione—birthdays, Christmases, assorted milestones, and a host of not-so-special occasions—but he didn't have any of Harry and none of the ones of Hermione included even a hint of Harry. Even the memory of Hermione being born didn't include Harry, which was rather odd, considering that they were twins.

He frowned. "Emma, dear?"

"Yes?"

"My mind seems to have been tampered with. None of my memories from before today include Harry in any way."

"Same here; I was just about to say the same thing, in fact. What about you, Hermione?"

Hermione frowned. "Same. Harry?"

"I . . ." Harry paused, frightened. "I don't have any memories."

Emma and Hermione immediately hugged him, while Dan asked, "Do you remember learning to talk?"

"No. I know how to talk, and some other stuff—I can read, a bit—but I don't know how I know."

Hermione being Hermione, the revelation that her brother could barely read—and worse, _didn't remember learning_—filled her with horror on his behalf. She resolved to personally ensure that Harry's education came up to her standards, and said so (though not in so many words), but managed to restrain herself from dragging him off until their parents were finished talking.

"Right," Dan said, "I think I know what's going on, but I want to check a few more details. You kids see if you can find Harry's room or any of his stuff. We'll see if we have a copy of Harry's birth certificate or anything like that."

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Both searches turned up a complete lack of anything, so Dan concluded, "Most likely, someone—or multiple someones—tampered with all of our minds to get the three of us to treat Harry as our own son. Why didn't they just get us to adopt him? Probably because he's in danger. Harry, can you do magic?"

Harry focused as hard as he could on doing something, anything magical. After a little bit of that, his mind wandered to the things he might be able to do with magic. He tried levitation, either of himself or random objects, for another little bit, then his mind turned inevitably to fire. He spent quite a while imagining a flame in his hand; flames coming out of his hands, his mouth, his eyes; his hair turning to flames; flames all around him, either as an aura or as a wildfire; then he settled down a bit, focusing on things catching on fire: his clothes (they didn't fit very well, and they weren't very clean or in very good shape, so it wouldn't be much of a waste), a lampshade, the carpet—the carpet was on fire.

_The carpet was on fire!_ The carpet was on fire, and it was his fault, and they'd all blame him, and— "Sorry—"

"Don't worry," Dan interrupted, as Emma went for a fire extinguisher, "just see if you can undo it."

Harry tried to focus on the fire, but he realized that he was feeling rather faint from the effort of lighting it. He mumbled something to that effect, then lay down for a nice nap, trusting that his parents would deal with the fire easily. The last thing he heard before falling asleep was his father saying, "Pyromancy, eh? Well, at least I know how to train that."

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"Right," Dan said, after Harry had been ensconced in the guest bedroom, "the first thing to do is get the kids—and probably us—some self-defense training." He paused for suggestions.

"Well," Emma mused, "Mary's told me about this _taijutsu_ dojo. . ."


End file.
